LSU Baseball
By Hunt Palmer
We’re starting to get record books out.
Turns out, LSU hasn’t been swept by Mississippi State since 1985. The Tigers may have never lost nine straight SEC games. Both of those dubious accomplishments were checked off over the weekend. LSU is in free fall, and it’s rather shocking to watch.
There are two elements to digest. One, this roster has been significantly flawed in its composition. Two, that composition has been altered by injury. As of Saturday, LSU was playing without Casan Evans, Cooper Moore, Jake Brown, Chris Stanfield, John Pearson and Seth Dardar. Add that to the fact that the other three offensive portal additions beyond Dardar are out of the lineup, and you understand where this team is.
Ultimately, this is no longer about “turning a corner” or “putting it together.” The team is without a strength. In Oxford, LSU couldn’t work through a struggling Ole Miss lineup. Texas A&M pitching has been spotty. It locked LSU up for three days in Baton Rouge. Mississippi State bashed the Tiger bullpen around for a weekend, and LSU aided that effort with poor defense.
What ails this team? In short, everything.
PITCHING PROBLEMS
LSU’s starting rotation is Evans, Moore and William Schmidt. That trio combined for four innings over the weekend as Moore looked on from a season-ending injury and Evans was scratched just prior to his Friday start. That meant the Tiger “bullpen” was responsible for 23 innings. That was never going to work.
LSU retired Mississippi State in order twice in 27 tries. Both came on Friday. The leadoff runner reached seven of eight innings on Sunday, and only once did it come via the base hit. Hit by pitch, walk, catcher’s interference, hit by pitch, walk, hit by pitch, ground out, homer. LSU hit three times as many leadoff batters as it retired on Sunday.
“It’s a prerequisite in being a winning pitcher, getting the leadoff guy out,” said Jay Johnson. “It’s like football. It’s like returning the kick, the offense starting on 50 yard line every time will score a lot. They scored a lot (Sunday), and that’s the main reason why.”
It’s mystifying that the Tiger staff has fallen so far short of expectations.
Johnson went to his best bullpen bullets on Friday with a 7-3 lead in the fourth. Grant Fontenot faced three hitters. One walked, and one doubled. Deven Sheerin didn’t strike a batter out in two innings. He allowed three runs on three hits. Zac Cowan gave up the walk-off homer.
Burning all of those arms in a loss always spelled trouble, and that’s how it played out. Tiger pitching allowed 22 walks and six hit batsmen for a total of 28 free bases in three games.
TURNING POINTS
The three games all shifted at one point.
Friday, the Tigers appeared to have turned a double play to clear the bases with two one out in an 8-7 LSU game. Jack Ruckert fielded the ball cleanly, fed on target to Milam who fired on to first. Replay showed Milam was a fraction of an inch off the bag on the catch to allow the runner to stay put with one out.
I wouldn’t characterize that as a mistake. Shortstops have turned double plays that way for more than a century. It’s just rotten luck. The ground ball that plated the tying run could have been gloved by Milam in the hole, but he tried to get his body in front of it instead of playing it to the backhand side. It was the proper and fundamental idea, but it didn’t work as the ball skipped off his glove/hip and tied the game.
Saturday, State swung the bats in the seventh. Johnson played the matchups, and it came up snake eyes. Ethan Plog allowed hits two switch-hitting Gehrig Frei and lefty Ace Reese. Connor Benge gave up a single to right-handed hitting Noah Sullivan and walked Blake Bevis. That’s when Johnson went to Cooper Williams for left-handed freshman Jacob Parker who slugged a 2-0 hanging curveball out of the ballpark. I didn’t have a problem with any of the pitching decisions. None of them worked.
Sunday, the game changed on the come backer to Sheerin in the sixth. LSU led 8-5 with two on and no one out. Frei’s ground ball is a double play if Sheerin fields it or let’s it go. He could have turned a 1-6-3, and it’s probably a 6-3 unassisted if it gets through.
Instead, Sheerin deflected it and then panicked when he picked it up. He thought about tossing underhanded, which he could have. Then he thought better of that and tried to push it overhand but fired wide of the bag. It was a microcosm of the entire season in a three-second disaster.
State scored four in the inning and piled on later.
STATE STARTERS
LSU was excellent against the Bulldog rotation. Tomas Valincius, Duke Stone and Charlie Foster allowed 17 runs on 19 hits in just 10.1 innings. That’s an 11.59 ERA with only nine strikeouts.
Valincius hasn’t been hit like that all season, and none of the three finished the fifth inning. LSU hung three on all three in the first inning
YOUTH MOVEMENT
LSU’s young hitters are going to play the rest of the way, and they shined in Starkville.
Omar Serna – 8-for-14, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 56 R
Mason Braun – 7-for-13, 2 BB, HBP, 3B, 4 R, 2 RBI
Cade Arrambide – 3-for-12, 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 4 R
Those three should be huge pieces to the 2027 team, and they led the way in perhaps the most hostile environment in the sport over the weekend.
William Patrick delivered the huge hit on Friday to give LSU a ninth inning lead, and Ruckert has been steady on defense after a really poor start to the season in that department. There are some strong young pieces to this roster. Johnson is going to get those pieces experience. He also said Sunday that Braun and Serna may be LSU’s two best hitters. I don’t disagree.
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